Pepco Holdings, as part of its merger into Exelon, has agreed to assist owners of subsidized properties in the Pepco and Delmarva Power service areas with an easier way to obtain utility use information from its tenants in order to obtain approved Utility Allowances from their local jurisdiction or housing authority that can be used to calculate maximum allowable rents under affordable housing programs, such as LIHTC, HOME or HUD Sec. 202.
As of May 1, Owners of multifamily properties with five or more units must obtain permission from all tenants to allow Pepco to share utility use and billing for the previous 12 months for all tenants. Owners should fax a spreadsheet or Word document with the addresses, unit number, and names of all adults on lease to Pepco’s Correspondence Department at (202) 872-3217. Pepco will furnish utility bill amounts for all units in a timely fashion so that owners can submit the information to their local jurisdiction or housing authority, whichever entity is responsible for approving utility allowances for the property. Pepco reserves the right to do spot checks of tenant files to ensure that Owner does, in fact, have permission from all tenants for Pepco to share this info, as there are privacy issues involved.
Pepco will be setting up a website that includes these request forms and explains the process in the coming months.
The following is a summary of the low income data sharing program that Pepco/DPL will be implementing pursuant to Condition 3(D) of Maryland Public Service Commission Order No. 86990:
• Landlords and property owners will be able to submit the form certifying that they have obtained the consent of customers for Pepco/DPL to share their usage data with the landlord/property owner. The form largely mirrors the form currently used by BGE, although language has been added making it clear that Pepco/DPL will have the right to conduct spot checks to ensure that the requesting landlord/property owner can produce a sampling of signed consents. In the event the landlord/property owner is unable to produce all of the consents requested in the sampling, the form further states that Pepco/DPL reserve the right to withhold the usage data for all tenants associated with that specific landlord/property owner until the landlord/property owner produces signed consents for each unit for which usage data is requested.
• Landlords and property owners will need to include as part of their request an attachment listing the adult (defined as over the age of 18) occupant(s) of record for each unit included in the request. This will allow Pepco/DPL to confirm that at least one occupant in each unit is the utility customer of record.
• The specific points of contact at Pepco and DPL to whom landlords/property owners can submit requests for usage data are as follows:
o For Pepco, requests for usage data should be faxed to Pepco’s Correspondence Department at (202) 872-3217.
o For Delmarva Power, requests for usage data should be sent to the Community Outreach Team. The phone number is (800) 375-8599, the fax number is (410) 860-6505, and the email address is [email protected].
Important documents are as follows:
LOW INCOME DATA SHARING INSTRUCTION SHEET
PROPERTY MANAGER/LANDLORD USAGE INFORMATION REQUEST FORM (PEPCO VERSION)
